A/N: This was originally going to be a chapter in a longer story about how Alex recovered after Snakehead and if anyone would like to read that, tell me. I just felt like it was a little overdone, and even if I have completely new ideas on it people might still get bored.
I would just like to say that I have no idea if being a job counselor that jumps from school to school is a real thing, so just go with it.
And regretfully, I do not own Alex Rider or any other characters from the series.
|~V~|
Louis Faure did not enjoy his job.
At first it had seemed like a good idea; he was helping kids choose what they wanted to be later in life, helping them find their strengths and achieve their dreams.
Of course, he didn't realize that twenty years later he would still be around a bunch of snot nosed, whiny, British high-school children all day long trying to get them to pick a bloody job so they wouldn't fail later in life.
He missed France.
Somehow, he always got stuck with the idiots with the most improbable ideas of what they wanted to be, and had to convince them to "have other plans, just in case". Honestly, not everyone can have rich or famous as a career choice.
So when he received a call in the morning telling him to be at Brookland Comprehensive School in Chelsea by noon, he sighed and grumbled as he pushed all his papers and pamphlets into a briefcase and made his way to another day of dealing with those insufferable annoyances.
By the time he got there is was 11:50 and he made his way to the office to sign in and begin his sessions. Each school would last a couple weeks to get through all the grades, though each student that entered his care was pushed out quicker than the prior. He got bored of them so quickly.
Louis watched the students that had free period enjoyed their various activities. The children playing football would all come to him with dreams of making it to the pros, and he would force a smile and encourage them not to slack off in other areas because they would need a back up plan.
The three girls laughing and sending rude sneers at anyone who dared to come near them would want to be models and actresses, believing that their beauty would get them wherever they needed to go because it had worked thus far. Louis would nod his head in agreement, all the while insisting they try their hand at a few clubs or electives so they had more skill sets.
A boy with thick glasses was reading under the shade of one of the few trees. He might have potential, with good grades and dedication, but Louis felt in his pessimistic soul the owl-eyed boy would have no realistic dreams either and would end up as sad as the rest of his classmates when all hope for a better future was lost.
Whenever his loathing for his job became internal discouragement over the students he was supposed to help, Louis wasn't sure. Maybe it had come first, and was what had made him truly lose all hope in his job.
He had been doing this too long.
As Louis walked through the hallways, he paid no mind to the rush of students around him. In turn, they gave none of their attention to him. At that moment, neither had the slightest affect on the other. If this schools' students were anything like all the others he had been to, that would still be true when he left.
At last he reached the office and a secretary — an attractive woman in her forties — who was working behind the desks told him to wait for the headmaster for a few minutes, so he sat down on one of the many uncomfortable chairs by the office door. After six minutes of constantly glancing at his watch and shifting in the seat like a child waiting to be reprimanded, a man with a balding head in a crumpled suit exited the office.
He gave the tired smile of man who had also worked with children too long and stuck out a hand to Louis. "Ah, you must be Mr. Faure. My name is Henry Bray, I am the headmaster of Brookland Comprehensive School." Bray had thick fingers that wrapped around Louis' smaller hand with a firm grip. Strong handshakes were probably in the job description of headmasters and headmistresses. He gestured for Louis to come inside his office and they sat down in their respective seats.
Bray continued, "I am glad you could make it, we've been concerned that our students don't realize how different the real world is compared to school. Multiple teachers have come to me with fears that students here don't take their work seriously and we were hoping you could help them gain some sense of realism. As a school, it is our job to teach how to survive out in the world once they leave."
Louis found himself nodding along. This was the case with many children. They couldn't see the harshness of the real world, the difficulties that they would have to face. School was a sheltered environment.
After they talked, Bray assigned Louis a room and was told he would be receiving students that needed help according to teachers and that he was simply to talk with them and nudge them in the direction of an achievable career. It was no different than any other school he had visited, and Louis quickly slipped into the lull of talking calmly to the many students that passed through, pointing out their strengths and advising them on jobs that would suit them.
They were all the same, just a string of children with too high of hopes. All until one day, a few minutes after Louis saw off a girl who loved her looks far more than her grades, there was a knock rapped on his temporary door. After a call of "come in" from Louis, a blond boy walked in and looked at him with a blank expression.
Louis simply smiled back, pushing down the distressing feeling growing inside him. Something about the boys' face made him feel nervous, but he couldn't let that interfere with his thoughts or judgement. He had a job to do, no matter how tired he had grown of it.
"Please sit down," Louis chirped. The boy made his way to the dark green chair in front of Louis' desk. The room was so small that they were against opposite walls and still close enough to each other to speak softly. "My name is Mr. Faure, I'm here to help you think about what you want for your future," he continued. He expected the boy to respond with his own name, or perhaps a sarcastic remark, but he remained silent. Louis tried again with a more straightforward approach, "What is your name?"
After a few moments of no answer, Louis began to feel increasingly nervous. What kind of child acted like this? It wasn't rude so much as. . . off. As if he didn't know how to act normally. The boy certainly didn't seem like the type with outrageous goals that needed to be brought down to Earth, so what was he doing here with Louis?
"Alex." The word startled Louis, he had started to think no reply would come his way at all. No surname was offered, and Louis did not press for one.
"Well Alex, I'm here to talk to you about different career choices that would be most suited for you. You don't have to decide now, but you should start thinking about these sorts of things." The words sounded empty, like a dentist asking a patient how their day went while both sides knew they couldn't care less.
Alex looked as if he was struggling to hide a smile, or more likely a smirk, but he nodded regardless and continued to focus his attention on Louis.
Louis decided to start out with asking a basic question; "What do you see yourself doing in, say, fifteen years?" Many of the children would shrug and claim they didn't know, so he expected the same of Alex.
After a few moments of concentration, Alex replied, "Somewhere I don't want to be."
Louis blinked. That was a first. Not only was it vague, but also a bleak outlook. Not the type of response he got at all. Alex hadn't had a ridiculous hope, but he also hadn't flat out said he had no ideas. In contrast, he implied he did have an idea where he would be.
Reclaiming his composure, Louis cleared his throat and brought himself from his thoughts, deciding to skip over the first answers' prodding and nudging. That was what he typically did after asking each question. "Alright, and what sort of activities or hobbies are you interested in?" came the next question.
Again, several seconds ticked by before the response. "I enjoy biking. It's been helpful multiple times, along with swimming. Mostly staying underwater without breathing for long periods of time. Snowboarding has helped me out of a tight spot once, so that too." Alex had looked at Louis the entire time, his brown eyes never straying from Louis' shock-filled blue ones.
What sort of reply was that? This teenager had managed to answer Louis' question, yet somehow remained just as intangible and unrelatable as before. He had answered a question about himself and Louis still felt no closer to knowing or understanding the strange boy. Maybe it was the impassive tone, or the fact that he described the things he enjoyed as useful more than fun or personally entertaining, but Louis felt that this kid was abnormal. Not to mention Alex had yet to break eye contact, and Louis was becoming increasingly nervous.
In the end, it was Louis who broke the stare-down by looking at the papers and pamphlets on his desk to avoid meeting Alex's piercing eyes any longer. He tried to cover it up by pretending to organize the scattered papers, but he knew there was no way Alex was fooled.
Deciding another question might diffuse the awkward tension that had been building since Alex walked through his doorway, Louis asked, "What are your talents?"
Alex's face began to look somewhat grim, but in the long minutes Louis had observed him he had realized the teen never had any full emotion. It was always in fractions or percents, never giving too much of his real feelings away. Never enough of the inner mental state was displayed for anyone to truly see what was going on inside. Even now, Louis wondered if the somber emotion was real or false.
Then the response came, "I've been told I have a lot of talents. I know multiple languages, and I'm practiced in karate. I have been described as brave, observant, and resourceful, along with curious. Perhaps too curious." Here his voice began to falter, losing its emptiness as trickles of emotion came in on some of the words, "Honestly, I don't really care. I wish I didn't have any of these talents. All they do if get me into trouble." Alex had looked down at his feet during the revelation, but now brought his head back up to meet Louis'. "I wish I didn't have any talents. I wish I was as normal as possible."
If Louis had been unprepared for the previous responses, he was hypnotized by the sudden revelation. Yet Alex continued to stare at him, his face as blank as when he first walked in. All the feeling had been scrubbed off, leaving his face a clean human slate.
Again, Louis opted to ignore the strange reply. He had no way to respond. What could he possibly say?
"What kind of career do you want, Alex?" Louis said quietly, kindness leaking into his voice. How he could care for a boy he had hardly spoken to, he didn't know, but something about Alex drew him in. He found himself wanting to help in some way.
Some form of compassion touched the edges of Alex's face. His eyes were filled with empathy, his lips curved upward slightly in a mock smile. "I don't think I'm going to have a choice, Mr. Faure."
Louis was startled by the flow of pure pity directed at him by someone a fraction of his age combined the sudden use of his name in such a formal manner. Every minute he spent with this boy brought a new surprise.
Alex stood up, pushing the chair he had been sitting in backwards slightly. "I'm sorry, I should get back to class. I've missed a lot of school lately already," he explained and turned to the door.
Thrown by the self-excusal, Louis didn't respond until Alex was halfway out the door. "Alex!" he called, stopping the boy for a moment. He look that as a sign to continue. "No one is normal. That doesn't mean we can't make our own choices." Louis found himself believing the words. Not trying to fool or con a child for the first time many years, but genuinely trusting the advice he was giving. "No one had the right to tell you what to do with your life, with your skills. They can help you, but it will always remain your choice."
How had it taken him this long to realize that? Why hadn't he known it all along?
Alex was still frozen with one foot in the hallway and one in Louis' makeshift office. The world seemed to pause for a long time while nothing moved but thoughts and emotions. Then the back of his blond head bobbed once, uttering, "Thank you," before Alex had walked out the door and it swung shut behind him with a heavy thud.
|~V~|
A/N Also, I do not in any way share Louis' original view on schools (they are certainly not sheltering) or on kids and their aspirations. Frankly, I kind of hate him for thinking that way. He got better though, right?
Anyway, tell me what you think! If you have any comments, complaints, concerns, corrections, or confusions please tell me so that I may remedy them and we can all be happy.